


lucid dreaming

by graveExcitement (arachnids)



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-03 10:07:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13338993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arachnids/pseuds/graveExcitement
Summary: There was a lot Bones was expecting from their five year mission. Developing strange powers was definitely not on that list. Neither was these same powers revealing a secret Jim's been hiding.





	lucid dreaming

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elareine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elareine/gifts).



No one had thought much of the crystals on Kavik at the time. They were gorgeous, of course, alluring even, but other than the locals’ odd reverence for them, there didn’t seem to be anything particularly notable about them. Just beauty.

When the Kavikan leader had insisted on gifting the crew with a small crystal as thanks for preventing disaster - or as Jim had privately called it, “saving their asses” - no one thought much of it. Spock politely accepted it on behalf of the crew and brought it back onto the _Enterprise,_ and that was the last anyone thought of it.

Even when, several days later, strange things started happening...

* * *

The first oddity Bones experienced took the form of a dream.

He was standing in a desert, but it didn’t look like any Earth desert he’d ever seen. And the plants looked odd, too… He wandered for a while, faintly confused, before he finally realized two things in tandem: _This is Vulcan,_ and then, _This is a dream._

Why was he dreaming of Vulcan?

Lacking anything better to do, he kept walking. Eventually he found an… oasis, of sorts. And sitting there, cross-legged, was Spock.

“Figures you’d be here,” Bones muttered.

Spock startled from what Bones belatedly realized was probably meditation. “Ah,” he murmured. “Doctor McCoy. I did not expect to see you here.”

“Yeah, well, me neither.” He shrugged. “Still, not much you can do about dreams, so…”

Spock quirked an eyebrow. “So I hear. This is my first time dreaming, so I am not experienced with the matter, but I was not aware that dream representations of others were self-aware.”

“The hell? I'm the one dreaming, Spock."

“So you perceive yourself to be the dreamer,” said Spock, “when in fact, the opposite is true. Interesting.”

“Are you saying - what, that I’m a figment of _your_ damn imagination? Damn, you’re as annoying as the real Spock.” Bones rolled his eyes.

Spock opened his mouth to reply, but the dream fragmented into nothing as Bones blinked open his eyes, barely registering his alarm going off.

 _Well, that was weird_ , he thought, rubbing his eyes. _Why’d I dream of Spock, of all people?_ Still, he had more important things to worry about, so he dismissed the dream and reluctantly got out of bed.

* * *

Two days later, his first shift of the day started without any fuss, nothing out of the ordinary. Until Jim showed up, Sulu in tow. _Literally._ Jim walked into the medbay, tugging Sulu along by his wrist as if he were a balloon. Which he might as well have been… because he was floating in the air. 

“What in the god damn hell…” Bones muttered.

“I don’t know any more than you do, Bones,” Jim said, sympathetic. “Honestly, we’re all going a little nuts up at the bridge. Spock’s racking his brains trying to figure out how the artificial gravity could selectively _not_ affect _one_ person. If you could take a look at him, that’d be great.”

“Of course. Not sure what you expect _me_ to find, but…”

“There’s gotta be a reason for this,” Jim said, clapping Bones on the shoulder. The warmth of his hand was a comfort, in this bizarre situation. “Between you and Spock, we’ll figure this out. I know it.”

“Thanks, Jim.”

“If not, we can always just strap Sulu into the pilot’s chair…”

Sulu groaned. “You realize I’m _right here?”_

Jim just grinned. And then the oddest thing happened: Bones heard Jim say, _“_ Spock or Bones had better figure this shit out cause this is weirding me out _.”_

But Jim’s mouth hadn’t moved.

Bones blinked, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Jim didn’t seem to realize anything (else) was amiss, as he departed for the bridge.

“Weird,” he muttered, before turning to look at Sulu, who was still floating as if he were on a ship _without_ artificial gravity.

“When did this start?” he demanded.

Apparently last night, Sulu had dreamed that he was flying, floating above his bunk… only he was starting to suspect that it hadn’t been a dream after all. The floating had eventually dissipated, and he’d fallen back asleep. Then this morning on the bridge, some minutes after he’d sat down to begin his shift, he’d found himself floating out of his seat into the air. 

“I almost wondered if it was another dream,” he said, “only everyone started freaking out and… now I’m here. And I don’t _feel_ asleep.”

“If I’m awake, so are you,” said Bones, running the tricorder over him, which was easier said than done. He could gently tug Sulu back to ground level, but unless he was tethered, Sulu would float there, and even small movements might propel him upwards, or sideways. It really was as if he were in zero gravity… except for the part where the artificial gravity was working just fine for everyone else.

“Seriously, what the fuck,” said Sulu.

“You’re telling me,” Bones muttered. Every scan was returning normal results. Nothing out of the ordinary - 

“I didn’t say anything,” Sulu said.

“What?” Bones glanced up at him. “No, never mind. I’m going to need to draw some blood.”

Sulu nodded, expressionless, but Bones heard him say, “Of _course_ you do.” His mouth hadn’t moved. 

Bones’ stomach turned over. _What the fuck is going on?_ he thought, even as he carefully drew Sulu’s blood, outwardly projecting calm.

The blood tests, of course, returned no unusual results. “I can’t find anything, Jim,” he had to say when Jim commed him. “He’s perfectly healthy. He’s just floating as if he’s in -”

“Zero gravity,” Jim finished. “Yeah. Scotty swears up and down there’s nothing wrong with the artificial gravity, and that the problem’s gotta be with Sulu.”

“Goody,” he muttered.

“Spock didn’t find anything either so I expect he’ll be down in a few.”

“ _Great_.”

* * *

As promised, Spock soon presented himself to the medbay, determined to re-examine Sulu. Bones let him do so with minimal grumbling - it wasn’t like he’d been able to find anything.

“There must be a logical explanation for this,” Spock insisted. And hell, he wasn’t _wrong_ \- people just didn’t start floating all of a sudden for no reason - but damn if Bones wasn’t stumped. And from Spock’s minutely furrowed brow, Bones had the feeling Spock was just as frustrated as he was.

Also, he kept hearing… odd things. To him, it seemed as if Spock was muttering observations, but Sulu showed no sign of hearing this running commentary, and Spock’s mouth stayed closed throughout.

Bones was having the sickening feeling that he might just be hearing thoughts. Reading minds. But that was impossible for humans. He was probably just hearing things.

What the _damn hell_ was he supposed to do about that?

While Spock continued to examine Sulu, Bones took a tricorder and started discreetly scanning himself. Just like Sulu, however, there wasn’t a damn thing to indicate anything was different about him, much less sudden telepathic abilities or, alternatively, sudden hallucinations. 

“And you found nothing, Doctor McCoy?”

Bones looked up, startled. Spock was actually looking at him, and he realized he’d actually been spoken to. “Nothing’s wrong, physically, other than the obvious,” he affirmed. “Or even _different_.”

“Curious,” Spock murmured. He didn’t appear to say anything else out loud, but Bones heard him say, _“This week started strangely and has only gotten stranger. First the strange dreams, now… this.”_

Bones was reminded of his own odd dream that morning. _I thought Vulcans didn’t even dream._ Was it possible -

“Spock!”

Bones turned; there was Jim, striding into his medbay like a man on a mission. Seeing Jim like that, Bones dared to hope a solution might have been found.

Instead, Jim just introduced more weirdness. “Say something in Vulcan,” he demanded.

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t ask, just do it. Or, ask in Vulcan, how about that?”

Spock must have acquiesced, for he spoke something in the Vulcan tongue.

Jim grinned. “You said, ‘If fulfilling this illogical request will pacify you, I will do so.’”

_“What?”_ Spock abandoned his examination of Sulu entirely, turning to face Jim. “Since when do you understand Vulcan?” he demanded.

“Since now,” Jim said, smug. Then his smirk faded. “Literally. Before today I could only speak Standard, Orion, and a handful of Klingon. Now I can speak… well, anything. Uhura’s furious.”

“I bet she is,” Bones muttered.

“This… should not be possible,” Spock said.

“Yeah, you’re telling me. Bones, you wanna look me over?”

Bones snorted. “Doubt I’ll find anything, but sure.” He turned his tricorder on Jim, scanning carefully.

“At least understanding languages is _useful,_ ” Sulu groused. “While I’m stuck here, floating.”

“Could be worse,” said Bones. “You could have become extra-heavy instead of extra-light.”

There was a moment of silence, and Bones realized everyone was staring at _him_.

“Doctor, I didn’t… say that out loud,” Sulu said slowly.

“...Shit.”

“Quick, Bones! What number am I thinking of?”

_If it’s 69, so help me God…_

_“Thirty-eight point three,”_ he distinctly heard Jim think.

“Thirty-eight point three,” he numbly repeated.

Jim stared back at him, wide-eyed. “Holy shit.”

“No kidding,” he muttered.

_“Okay, don’t panic,”_ he heard Jim think. _“All I have to do is not think about how much I want him. Spock. Either of them.”_

Bones stared at him, eyes wide.

“You… heard that, didn’t you.”

“No _shit_ I heard that, Jim.” His heart was pounding, but somehow he retained enough presence of mind to say, “We’ll talk about that later. After we’ve figured out this… mess.”

_“So Doctor McCoy has gained some manner of telepathy? Interesting. I wonder how it would interact with a mind-meld…”_

“Not sure that’s a good idea, Spock,” he said - realizing only belatedly that he’d replied out loud to someone’s thoughts again. “Sorry,” he added.

“It is understandable,” said Spock.

Bones nodded in thanks, but his mind was still fixated on what he’d heard Jim think. It shouldn’t, on the face of things, be _that_ surprising - Jim was a horndog, after all - but it did become so when he thought about how Jim had never once even hinted at such a desire. _Jim_ , who was usually an open book with his attractions. How had he never noticed? Why had Jim never said anything? The idea made his stomach twist, but... not in a bad way. Now that he was thinking about it...

And it wasn’t just him, either. Jim had thought of Spock, as well… The thought made Bones feel something odd. It wasn’t jealousy, more like… anticipation. As annoying as he'd once found Spock to be, he now felt... well, a similar mixture of irritation and fondness as he felt towards Jim.

 _After we figure this out_ , Bones thought firmly. _Then we’ll talk… and maybe -_

“What the -” Jim stared at Bones, and he realized Spock was staring too.

“I heard you just now,” Spock said. “Yet you did not speak aloud… it seems you may be able to project thoughts in addition to hearing them.”

“Well that’s just peachy,” he muttered.

“So what about you, Spock?” Jim asked. “Did you get any kind of power?”

Spock frowned. “I have not experienced anything of the sort.”

 _Power_ , Bones thought to himself. Jim _would_ see it like that, wouldn’t he? But even Bones could see why. Sulu’s gravity… malfunction… was one thing, but Jim suddenly becoming an expert polyglot? _Telepathy_ manifesting out of nowhere? It was… bizarre. 

“Not yet, maybe,” said Jim. “If the current pattern continues, you might get one too.”

“Not necessarily,” Spock demurred. “If the root cause is something isolated to the three of you, there might not be any further cases.”

“How likely is that? Me and Sulu, maybe, but any time Bones was with us, so were other people. If we got exposed to something, we’re not the only ones.”

Spock inclined his head. “Your logic follows,” he said. “In any case, remain here and I will return to the bridge. If anyone else exhibits symptoms, I will send them here.”

Bones could already hear Jim’s mutinous thoughts about being stuck in medbay. “ _No_ , Jim,” he barked. “I know this seems like fun and games to you, but this could be _dangerous._ You’re staying right here.”

Jim rolled his eyes. “Fine. But we should really get Chapel in here to observe. You’re affected too, so if something goes wrong...”

Bones scowled; he did not particularly enjoy being a patient himself. But needs must. 

* * *

Of course, it didn’t end there. Uhura was sent down with flames sparking at her fingertips, which was alarming (to say the least.) And soon enough Scotty ended up there as well - at least, they were informed it was him; it was a little hard to tell, considering that he appeared to be honest-to-god _shapeshifting._ Every few minutes, he would shift into a different animal form.

At least Bones was able to pick up on his thoughts and confirm that it _was_ Scotty. And he still had his human mind, thank god. Scotty seemed grateful that Bones, at least, could understand him.

Other crew members were being sent to medbay as well, all with similarly unbelievable powers. Bones and Chapel and the other Medical staff dutifully scanned and took readings of all their new ‘patients,’ to no avail. 

There was some good news, however. In the middle of his rounds, Bones heard an exhilarated _“YES!”_ from elsewhere in the medbay. Looking around, no one else seemed to have heard, so he assumed he was overhearing someone’s thoughts again. But whose…?

No one seemed to be acting out of the ordinary - well, out of the new “ordinary,” anyways. He scanned the medbay again, then blinked. How…?

Sulu saw his gaze and grinned at him. Bones abandoned his scans and made a beeline straight for Sulu - because Sulu was just… sitting there on the edge of a cot. As if he’d never been mysteriously floating to begin with. 

“When did it wear off?” Bones demanded.

“Wear off… isn’t the words I would use,” Sulu said, amused. “I learned to control it.”

“How the hell...”

“I’m not sure I can explain properly, but… when I focus enough, I can feel an odd sense of…” He waved his hand. “I can’t describe it, but by focusing on that sense, I figured out how to control it.”

“Well _that’s_ impressively vague,” Bones muttered.

“Here, I’ll show you,” Sulu said. A look of concentration passed over his face, and he began to lift up into the air… before returning back to his seat. He grinned.

Bones’ eyebrows raised. “Well then.” A thought sprung to his mind. “If you can control this… then that means others might be able to control their…” He refused to say ‘powers.’ “... _conditions_ … too. Though it’d be useful if you had a better way of describing just how the hell you did that,” he added.

“Sorry.”

He sighed. “Just… try and help out those with some of the more… intrusive… conditions. Scotty, for one.”

Sulu nodded and left. Bones rubbed his forehead, which was starting to ache. The more people who entered the medbay, the more thoughts he heard. It was becoming somewhat of a cacophony.

Just then, he heard Jim think, _“Oh hey, Spock’s finally shown up. Wonder what power he’s gotten?”_

He turned and indeed, Spock was there. He stopped for a moment to confer with Chapel, before heading straight for Bones. Jim, seeing this, headed his way as well. Hoping that distance from the crowd would help his headache, Bones led them to his office.

“So what have you got, Spock?” Jim demanded, once all three of them were inside and Bones had shut the door. 

“Despite your predictions, I have yet to manifest any odd condition,” Spock said, raising an eyebrow.

“Y’know, I’m not too certain about that,” Bones mused. Seeing their questioning glances, he said, “This might be an odd question, but… Spock, did you have any weird dreams recently?”

“Considering my Vulcan heritage, any dreaming would be considered ‘weird,’” said Spock. Seeing Bones’ glare, he added, “That aside, you are correct. I have had at least one ‘weird’ dream each night for the last several nights. I would ask how you knew such a thing, but I presume you overheard me thinking about it.”

Bones snorted. “Well, you’re not wrong, but that’s not why I asked. I actually had a weird as hell dream myself, a few days ago. You were there, Spock - and you thought you were the one dreaming.”

Spock’s eyes widened, nearly imperceptibly. “I remember that as well,” he said.

“Hold on,” said Jim, looking faintly alarmed. “I had a dream with you in it last night - was that _actually_ you?”

“Considering that I also remember dreaming about you last night, that seems likely,” said Spock. “Captain -”

“Sounds a lot like you _do_ have an… ability,” Bones concluded.

“I suppose so. Though, given that these dreams started several days ago, this means that I may have actually been one of the first, if not _the_ first, person to manifest symptoms.”

Jim rolled his eyes. “C’mon, just say ‘power!’ Or ‘superpower,’ that works too -”

“I refuse to characterize these inexplicable conditions that way -”

“Sulu can control his,” Bones broke in. They turned to look at him, and he elaborated, “He figured it out a bit before you came back, Spock. He can float or not at will.”

 _“Powers,”_ Jim whispered with glee.

“That is good news,” said Spock, “as the majority of the crew seems to be developing these conditions. Without the ability to control some of the more dangerous or inconvenient ones, we will be left with only a skeleton crew able to operate the ship safely. Most recently, Ensign Chekov has manifested invisibility, which means that including my… dream-sharing… the entire senior bridge crew is showing symptoms.”

Bones swore.

“However, if controlling our conditions is indeed possible, that makes the situation much less fraught.”

Jim grinned. “Y’know, Spock, if we can learn to control it… it really will be just like having superpowers! Ones that we can use to _aid the mission_ ,” he stressed. “I mean, come on - think of how damn useful my languages thing could be!”

Spock inclined his head. “The potential in your ability is apparent,” he allowed. “Though I am uncertain as to how useful dream-sharing could be.”

“Well, it’s just too bad you got the short end of the stick, huh?” 

“Indeed. However.” His gaze pinned Jim in place. “This brings to mind a related topic: the content of the dream we shared last night.”

Bones could hear both Jim’s thoughts of panic and Spock’s ruminations over said dream. “Don’t even think about running away from this,” he told Jim, whose thoughts had turned to just that subject.

Jim winced. “Fine,” he muttered. “Figures you’d get goddamn _telepathy_ …”

“It’s not exactly a walk in the park, Jim.” Bones rolled his eyes. Though the closed door _was_ helping to muffle the thoughts of everyone else in the medbay, which helped. “Anyways, Spock. You were saying?”

 _“Doctor McCoy is being unusually helpful,”_ he heard Spock think. Bones raised his eyebrows at him.

Aloud, Spock said, “During this dream, you propositioned myself, as well as Doctor McCoy, though I believe the McCoy in the dream was not the real McCoy - he did not appear to be self-aware.” His eyes cut across to Bones. "You do not appear surprised, however. More telepathy at work?"

"You could say that... though in this case I heard it straight from Jim's mind, not yours."

Jim groaned.

“Out with it, Jim,” Bones ordered. “If I had to guess, you’ve been hiding this long enough. After all, thinking about hiding it was the first damn thing you thought of when you realized I _could_ read minds.”

“Fine! You want to talk about it? We’ll talk about it.” Jim glared. “I’ve only wanted to kiss - well, more than kiss - you both for ages - two of the only people on this damn ship who wouldn’t want me back. There you go. Happy now?”

“You’re an idiot,” Bones said flatly.

“I must concur,” said Spock. “I did not find your proposition last night to be unwanted. Only surprising.”

“That’s… you… what?” Jim gaped. Bones would have found the sheer shock on Jim's face amusing, if it wasn't the product of who knows how long wallowing in assumptions and self-pity. _How long was he hiding this?_

Fed up with it all, Bones grabbed Jim and drew him in for a short, searing kiss. Jim took a moment to get over his shock, but after that, he returned the kiss with gusto. The warmth of Jim's lips against his own, the passion Jim poured into the kiss... for a moment, Bones couldn't help but melt, feeling weak at the knees.

Bones pulled away, then. “Idiot,” he repeated. “If you’d just goddamn _said_ something…”

“You never -” Jim cut himself off with a sigh. “Alright, I’m an idiot,” he agreed. His gaze shifted to Spock.

 _“Doctor, I hope you would not object if I acted similarly?”_ he heard Spock think.

Bones focused, and did his best to ‘project’ a thought back to Spock: _“Definitely not. But you can’t keep calling me ‘Doctor’ if this is happening. McCoy, or… Bones.”_

Spock raised an eyebrow. _“Noted.”_ And then he, too, was drawing Jim close for a kiss. Bones watched in satisfaction.

“You sure this isn’t a dream?” Jim asked weakly, once Spock had pulled away.

“It’d better not be,” Bones muttered. He looked over to where Spock appeared to be eyeing him with some consideration.

 _“Bones,”_ Spock thought, and Bones’ eyes widened at the nickname, which he’d never expected to hear in Spock’s voice, despite their exchange a minute ago. _“I must admit there is more than one individual in this room who holds my… interest.”_

Bones raised his chin. _“Come here, then.”_

Spock obeyed, and then their lips met. This kiss was firmer than the one he’d shared with Jim, and more chaste. Spock's lips were cold against his own, but they sent a thrum of desire through him anyways.

 _“Holy shit,”_ he heard Jim think. _“Best. Day. Ever.”_

And even as Spock ended the kiss, Bones couldn’t disagree. The abilities - alright, fine, powers - were somewhat of a nuisance, but if they could learn to control them, and identify what had caused them, they could actually be useful. And as for the other events of that day… well, there was a lot of potential there as well. 

There’d be a lot of work to do from here, he knew, both regarding the powers and the three of them. But for once, he was feeling optimistic.


End file.
